Hopes and Choices
by GracefulDancingWolf
Summary: Really sorry for the really really long wait. Chapter 10 now up! Read and Review! Stay safe for the holiday season!
1. Chapter 1

**Enjoy – and please review!**

**The first two chapters were written by Archraven1234, not me.**

"_I'll bring you to the Professor in chains, Dante Vale." _

– _DeFoe, episode 5: Crawling the Catacombs_

"This is so many levels past bad that there isn't even a word for it yet." Dante muttered to himself. He ran a distracted hand through his dark brown hair and surveyed the scene with serious almond eyes.

Zhalia was fighting efficiently, disposing of each Suit quickly and with ease. Meanwhile, Lok and Sophie were having troubles, though they were both battling on bravely, they were outnumbered and outmatched. Dante winced as Lok's Freelancer was forced to finally succumb under the will of four Organization Bonelashers.

"Your team is finished Dante Vale."

Dante spun around quickly to face a smug looking DeFoe and bored looking Rassimov.

"It was all a trap! Right from the very beginning!" Dante mind concluded thoughtfully. Dante clenched his fist in both frustration and disappointment. He should have known it was a bogus mission – it had been too good to be true.

Earlier that day, Guggenheim had called to supply his team with a mission. The mission was simple enough to understand. Go to the lost caves of Gried and locate the "Healing Amulet", an amulet that would release a medic Titan. Dante had accepted the mission immediately in the hopes that the medic Titan would be able to cure Metz.

But it was a trap. Guggenheim had received false information. There was no "Healing Amulet". Just a big number of Suits (armed with Titans), Grier, Rassimov and DeFoe. Within seconds of entering the lost caves of Gried, Dante and his team had been ambushed, and were now fighting desperately to get out of the mess they were in.

"Why's Rassimov with you, DeFoe? Has the Organization begun to wonder about your abilities?" Despite the gravity of the situation, Dante smirked. Winding up the pathetic villain was one of his most favourite pastimes. DeFoe's face turned an angry red colour. Rassimov cut him off before he could retort back angrily.

"You must be disappointed Dante," Rassimov smiled cruelly. "Finding out that the cure you came so far for is nothing but fake."

"I presume I have the Professor to thank for that?" Dante scowled. He prepared himself in a fighting stance, and tried to block out the sounds of the battle behind him.

"You do," Rassimov agreed. Dante tensed as the green looking man pulled out an amulet from his pocket. "It was indeed all the Professor's idea."

"Ray Pulse!" Dante yelled. To his disappointment, Rassimov managed to dodge the spell. Dante ducked as Rassimov's counter attack came shooting at him. He straightened up from his crouched position. Dante reached for his amulet and in an act of desperation, summoned Caliban again, using the last reserves of his power. Caliban kept DeFoe, Rassimov, and Grier at bay, but Dante knew that it was only for the time being.

He looked at his fighting team mates and shouted out an order.

"Zhalia! Get Lok and Sophie out of here!" His yell reached the pretty blue-head. Zhalia turned and nodded, before shouting out a warning, "Dante! Behind you!"

Dante turned just in time, to avoid the punch Grier had almost landed on him. He used the advantage of surprise to fling Grier into the wall.

"Touch Ram!" Dante blasted a new hole through the cave wall, and motioned Zhalia and the other two to get out.

Lok, Sophie and Zhalia got away, but Dante found himself unable to do so. Both Rassimov and Defoe's "Force Blast" hit him squarely in the back, rendering him unconscious.

The last thing Dante saw before darkness overtook him was Lok and Sophie trying to get to him, but Zhalia holding them back. All three of their faces were full of concern and anguish. Then three pairs of black boots came into his line of vision. Dante groaned, and felt his world go black.

"Ooof!" Dante grunted in pain as he was forced down on his knees by the man holding him. DeFoe, enjoying Dante's powerlessness, smiled sadistically and walked over to the Professor, halting just in front of the shorter man. He bowed.

"We failed to bring you the Lambert boy sir; you have my most sincere apologies. Instead, I've brought you Dante Vale, sir," DeFoe waved his hand at the reluctantly kneeling Dante. "With Rassimov's help of course."

Rassimov bowed only slightly and skulked back into the shadows of the room. The Professor narrowed his eyes.

"You disappoint me, DeFoe," The Professor's voice set Dante's nerves on edge. "I asked for the Lambert boy and you fail to bring him to me, even though I sent you a vast army."

"But sir," DeFoe couldn't help but whine, "Dante Vale stopped -"

"Shut up, DeFoe," the Professor interrupted coldly. "I don't want to hear your petty excuses."

"But-"

"Silence!" the Professor thundered. Dante watched the Professor close his eyes and take a deep breath in order to calm himself down. DeFoe cringed and took a few steps back.

"I suppose I should be thankful for you bringing me at least one from that Huntik team," the Professor continued to talk in his forbidding voice. Dante fought the urge to go back as the Professor advanced towards him. "…I've heard a lot of things about you, Dante Vale – mostly about how you continue to ruin my plans."

Dante sensed the Professor coming closer to him and kept his head lowered to the ground defiantly. Every part of him screamed to get up and run, but in his current situation, Dante knew that he wouldn't last very long. And besides, Grier's grip on his arms was as strong as metal – escaping it without using magic was almost impossible.

"Dante Vale…" the Head Chief of the Organization mused thoughtfully, "the prized and beloved apprentice of Huntik's founder, Metz. I heard that he's been mentoring you since you were seven, training you to be a Seeker to oppose my Organization. Am I right?"

Dante carried on looking down, his eyes hidden beneath his fringe of dark brown locks. Shock coursed through Dante's body. How was it that the Professor knew the Huntik's founder's name? How could the rogue know about Dante's age of when Metz took him in?

"So tell me Dante…how's my old friend doing?"

Dante's head snapped upwards and he stared at the Professor disbelievingly, realization slowly dawning upon him. He _knew_ he had seen those eyes before.

"_Who's this little kid beside you, Metz?" a cute seven year old Dante asked curiously. "I've feel like I've seen him before…"_

"_That's Ethan, Dante," Metz laughed as he looked at the faded photo Dante held in his hand._

"_Wow," Dante was impressed, "this photo really is old. But I guess I should have realized that when I saw a young you in it."_

_Metz laughed again and playfully tried to swat the little boy. Dante grinned and ducked his mentor's hand easily. He then caught sight of the man who stood beside Metz in the photo. Dante shivered; the man had haunted, emotionless eyes._

"_Who's this creepy guy beside you, Metz?" Dante asked rather tactlessly. The smile on Metz's face disappeared as he looked at his old friend's face._

"_That's Simon Judeau," Metz sighed. "He used to be on of my close friends, but he left."_

"_He left you?" Dante blinked._

"_Yes, just after our disastrous mission to get the Araknos amulet."_

"_Oh…" Dante didn't like seeing Metz looking so upset. Acting on his child's instincts, he gave Metz a tight, brief hug._

"_Don't worry Metz," Dante declared with a smile, "_I'll _never leave you!"_

_Metz smiled, and dimly wondered if Dante would keep to his promise._

"Simon," Dante whispered, his eyes stared right into the Professor's. "Simon Judeau."

DeFoe and the Suits stirred slightly – they all felt uncomfortable with the use of the Professor's real name. The Professor clapped his hands in mock delight.

"I wondered when you'd figure it out," the Professor laughed coarsely. "I expect that Metz has probably suspected it by now. He always had an uncanny ability to deduce what his colleagues were up to. Though I suppose now that he's bedridden, he-"

"You! It's all your fault!" A surge of anger ran through Dante's veins. "You're the reason why Metz is cursed right now!"

Dante got up and struggled to free himself from his captor's grip, anger at the scoundrel before him mounting. But Grier held on fast, and forcibly brought Dante back to his knees. Ignoring the pain that shot up his knees, Dante glared venomously at the Professor, who simply smiled and walked closer. The sound the walking stick made as it repeatedly contacted with the cold stone floor resounded around the silent room.

"I'm sure you care a lot about Metz, Dante," the Professor said earnestly. "Let me assure, Metz can only be healed by invoking the powers of the three Legendary Titans."

Rassimov noticed the sudden pained look that appeared on Dante's face. Obviously, the man's heart was battling with his mind. The pained look of indecision quickly passed and Rassimov was surprised to see a smirk slowly form on Dante's face.

"You don't really think I'm going to tell you where the Legendary Titans' amulets are, do you?" Dante raised his eyebrow. "Like I would ever tell a dirty, traitorous piece of – AAGH!"

Rassimov shot a "Force Blast" at Dante, who kneeling helplessly on the floor, could no dodge. Dante groaned slightly as he was impacted by the high beamed of kinetic energy in the chest. He slumped over, unable to control his ragged breathing. A red mist clouded his eyes momentarily.

"We do not appreciate your rudeness Dante Vale," Rassimov casually inspected his smoking hand and smirked. "Now, unless you do not value your life, you will tell us where the Huntik foundation is keeping the Legendary Titans."

Dante kept his head down, thoughts going through his head like a steam train. He mentally analysed all possible escape routes and found none that would work for the current situation. Dante almost sighed, but kept it in at the last minute. He missed feel of his Caliban's amulet around his neck. The fact that he currently possessed no Titans and could do no magic was really irritating. Not to mention he was in agony from Rassimov's direct hit.

"Staying silent are we? _Dante Vale, look at me_." The Professor's voice was layered with some sort of hypnotic music. It took all of Dante's willpower to resist – he knew that if he made eye contact with the Professor, his mind would be at the mercy of the twisted maniac.

The Professor frowned at Dante's impertinence. He gave Grier a curt nod, and Grier nodded back. The military man threaded his burly fingers through Dante's hair and yanked back. Dante gasped in both pain and fury. Grier forced his head to rise and Dante was compelled to look the Professor in the eyes.

Dante immediately tried to close his eyes, but couldn't. It was as though the Professor was stopping him somehow. Blue, magical energy began to sparkle in the Professor's cruel eyes and the magic slowly webbed itself around Dante. Dante tried desperately to look away and break the enchantment, but it was too late. The Professor was already looking at his life and through the Professor's eyes; Dante saw his life flash in front of him.

_**Flash**_

_He was at a funeral, where almost everyone was sobbing or crying. Beside him, a tall brown haired man held his hand. The man wore a long yellowish coat. A three year old Dante couldn't help but cry and clutch to his father as his dead mother was lowered into the ground._

_**Flash**_

_He was a healthy, cute-looking five year old, ducking the blows that were supposed to land on him. Dante laughed as his father trained and schooled him in the ancient martial art techniques._

_**Flash**_

_Dante screamed as bullets penetrated into his father's body. The amulet his father held fell. Dante caught the amulet before it reached the ground and ran. The enemies who killed his father were not far behind him._

_**Flash**_

_It was his father's funeral this time. With no one to hold and comfort him, Dante curled up on the seat and stared out blankly. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw a black haired man smiling kindly at him._

"_Hello, Dante. I'm Metz."_

_**Flash**_

_He was having the time of his life with Metz; training, exploring, adventuring, seeking. In the midst of missions, he went to school and made great friends. Dante learned the true lessons of life, and carried on laughing and smiling – despite his tragic past._

_**Flash**_

_He had grown up, now a man. He sat in Metz living room, and made himself comfortable. He called out for Metz and when he got no reply, he became troubled. After searching through the house for Metz, Dante found the man unconscious and with a high fever in the pouring rain outside. There were black marks around his face._

_**Flash**_

_He became a team leader soon after he met Lok. Dante can't help but feel that Lok, Sophie, and Zhalia were like family. Lok was like the annoying, ever clumsy little brother he had never had. Sophie was like a clever little sister, who, though she was cute, can also be deadly. And Zhalia...Dante could feel something stirring in him every time he looked at her._

_**Flash**_

_Dante brought the Legendary Titan amulets to a Paris, France. The ring is kept in a building called "High-Rise". Code to get to it is: 8473930. The second amulet is – _

The Professor got out of Dante's mind unwillingly. Free of Araknos's power, and tremendously weak, Dante collapsed. Grier caught the man before his head hit the ground.

The Professor scowled. "I know where one of the Legendary Titan is kept – but the location of the other two is not known for now. Dante Vale blocked his mind before I could delve deeper."

"What do we do now, sir?" Rassimov asked respectfully.

"Lock Vale up," the Professor commanded, "he will be useful to us for retrieving the other Titans."

**Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the second chapter of ****Hopes and Choices****, which was also not written by me, but by Archraven1234.**

**Please read, enjoy, and review.**

"The last we saw of him, he was losing consciousness and the Organization was gathering around him," Zhalia tried to speak unconcernedly; there was no doubt of the raw pain and worry in her voice. "He got hit by two Blast Forces – and he was already badly hurt at that time."

Zhalia lapsed into silence, as did Lok and Sophie, who stood quietly beside her. The cursed man lying down on the bed sighed deeply. There were gaunt lines on his face – the universal symbols of being ill.

"This is very bad," Metz sighed again. He covered his eyes, feeling drained and tired. "This is very bad indeed."

"We're so sorry Metz," Sophie raised her head and spoke earnestly in her accented voice. "I know we should have gone back for Dante, but he ordered us to escape."

"Yes, he would," Metz smiled fondly. "That idiot has always been one to listen to his heart rather than his mind."

"Dante's not an idiot!" Lok protested, instantly defensive of his mentor. "He's just-"

"I know, I know," Metz raised his hand in acknowledgement. "The important thing right now, is to get Dante back." He watched the dawning sunlight sneak into his room via the big windows facing his bed. There was no hiding the deep concern on his face.

"You don't think that they killed him do you?" Sophie's voice quavered, her eyes were wide and fearful.

"No!" Zhalia's hands bunched up into fists. "Of course not! Don't speak like that, you idiot!"

Sophie flinched slightly at Zhalia's outburst, but recovered quickly. "I was just saying…why would the Organization want Dante alive?"

"Because he's useful to them," Metz spoke out from his bed. He could still fell his heart hammering from the very thought that Dante could be dead. "He knows where all three of the Legendary Titans are, and so, the Professor will use him to find out where the Titans are."

"Dante would never tell them," Lok protested. Metz nodded gravely.

"That's true," Metz agreed, "but the Professor has many very useful methods to gain info from his victims. No, I'm not talking about torture; I'm talking about something else. I believe that the Professor can look deep into a person's mind and shift through it to find out what he's looking for."

"You mean the Professor can also read minds!" Sophie raised her hand to her mouth in horror.

"Yes," Metz said heavily. "Dante may be able to resist for a short while, but not for long. I've already contacted those in charge of the 3 Titans amulets and I have asked them to up their security. Hopefully, that will buy us some time."

"Some time for what?" Lok was quick to ask.

"Time to rescue Dante, of course." The three Seekers turned around in surprise as they heard the new, familiar voice enter the conversation. A blonde haired man stood at Metz's doorway. He straightened his tie in a business like manner before coming forward to shake Metz's hand.

"Good to see you in person again, Guggenheim," Metz smiled warmly. "I trust you've met Lok, Zhalia and Sophie?"

"Of course," Guggenheim nodded at the three Seekers. "Though not in person, I must admit."

"How are we going to rescue Dante?" Lok didn't beat around the bush, but spoke boldly. The knowledge that his brother like figure was being held captive by his darkest enemy gnawed at him from the inside.

"We believe that Dante is currently being held at a separate Organization centre in the USA." Guggenheim spoke seriously. "Would you like to be in charge of the mission of rescuing Dante?"

"YES!" Lok, Zhalia and Sophie spoke all at once.

"Good," Guggenheim mopped his brow. "This is a terrible situation we're in. To think that the Organization is holding the best Huntik Foundation operative a captive! I'm sorry Metz, you must be sick with worry."

"I am," Metz said grimly. "And the worst part of this is that in my current situation, I can't do anything to help him."

Zhalia stepped forward and gently clasped Metz's hand in hers. "We'll get him back Metz," she said sincerely. "I promise you that."

Metz smiled at the familiarity of the gesture, "I know that you will do anything to get Dante back, my dear. He trusts you with his life." Zhalia was taken back by Metz's words. She got back up, her cheeks slightly tinged with red.

"Right," Zhalia clapped her hands together, "I'm team leader whilst Dante is not here."

"What!" Predictably, Sophie was the first to speak out against it.

"Listen, Sophie," Zhalia looked at Sophie with such intensity that Sophie almost took a step back away from her, "I'm the next best Seeker here. And, no, I'm not boasting. The thing is that Dante needs to get away from the Organization quickly. And that's all that matters right now. Our petty quarrels are unimportant right now."

Sophie opened her mouth, presumably to retort back, but Lok stopped her by whispering into her ear, "Let's not argue right now, Sophie. Dante's depending on us. It doesn't matter who the leader but we have to get Dante back."

Sophie sighed, and nodded wearily. But her imperious glare at Zhalia spoke volumes.

Dante woke up slowly, expecting to hear the usual Sunday morning bustle going on at his home. Lok would be vainly trying to cook breakfast (he never had inherited his mother's touch in cooking), Cherit would be putting out Lok's fires, and Sophie and Zhalia would be arguing about whether the TV or the radio should be on.

Sounds of females arguing weren't exactly the best sounds to wake up to on a late Sunday morn, but right then, Dante wished that he could wake to their screaming voices rather than to a man's cold laugh.

"Finally awake are we?"

Dante opened his eyes blearily, only to see Rassimov standing before him.

"You…" Dante tried to get up, but found his body too weak to do so. He was lying prone on the stone cold floor. The man propped himself up on his elbows and surveyed his surroundings with a keen eye. He seemed to be in a prison cell of some sort; a grey square room with 4 walls, no door and no window. The Organization certainly wasn't taking any risks with him.

"Here to gloat?" Dante glared up at the man before him.

"Of course," Rassimov smiled cruelly. "The Organization has already sent a group to "High Tower" to retrieve one of the Legendary Titans. And we have you to thank for that."

Dante clenched his fist in anger and frustration.

"Huntik will never let you get your hands on that amulet!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Rassimov shrugged and began to circle Dante slowly. "The Professor is about to have another session with you soon, Dante, and you will be forced to state all of the Huntik's weaknesses."

Dante's eyes widened. He knew from past experience that what Rassimov had said was true; the Professor could do that. And he, Dante, would be the cause of the Huntik's downfall. "No…" Dante breathed, realizing the futility of his situation.

Gathering all of his strength, Dante pushed himself off the ground and made to attack Rassimov. But the man had obviously been expecting it, and with a quick move, managed to stop Dante's fist from connecting with his face and twist the said man's hand behind his back. Dante's face twisted in pain and anger.

There was a brief moment of struggle but it was hopeless for Dante. Dante let out an involuntary yell of pain as his arm was twisted further behind him. He used his other arm to make a slicing movement aiming at Rassimov's head. Rassimov easily dodged that arm, but was forced to let go of Dante. Dante rolled away from Rassimov before coming up in a sitting position. If looks could kill, Rassimov would have died a thousand times over.

"I won't let you use me to defeat the Huntik Foundation," Dante snarled out.

"Oh really?" Rassimov raised a speculative eyebrow. "The Professor will be here to visit you soon…you had better prepare yourself."

Dante grimaced. He blinked and Rassimov was gone, leaving Dante to wonder about what he was going to do, and whether or not a rescue team had been sent for him yet. His magic signature should still be strong enough for the team to detect. Dante rested his head in his hands. He had been in many sticky situations before, but never one like this.

"I've been an idiot," Dante exhaled. He should have _known,_ should have sensed the ambush. He wondered whether his team had gotten out safely, whether they were alright. A fleeting picture stayed in his mind as he thought of his team, a woman with dark blue hair, stern eyes and a kind smile.

Dante sighed again, "And as usual, there's always a great woman behind each idiot."

He spent a while trying to move around without increasing the dull throbbing in his head. His entire body ached, and so did his mind. Every move hurt, and his recent spit with Rassimov didn't help matters.

After exploring the room thoroughly, Dante had to concede defeat. He couldn't find any entrance or exit. He was literally in a metal box.

"Looking for a way out?"

Dante turned around so quickly that lost his balance and fell back down. He looked up at the person standing over him and felt a hate he had only once felt before begin to emerge. And he began to apprehend just how much trouble he was in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Enjoy – and please review!**

Thought

_Memories_

Dante swore mentally as he looked up at the towering figure, "Why would you ever help them?" He asked, his voice shaking only the slightest amount despite how tired and weak he was.

"For profit, Dante." The figure smiled, "You see we profit from how many, how should we say, _helpers_ the Organization has."

"You're mad." Dante said as he tried to stand.

"Maybe, Dante, but as of now, you have no way to defeat us. We are eliminating the Foundation as we speak." The figure turned, "Well, I must go, Dante. There's something I must check on."

"Don't you turn your back on me, you traitor!" Dante shouted, throwing himself at the door of the cell.

"Dante, you turned your back on me once, which made me realize, I couldn't trust the Foundation anymore. Why is this any different?"

"You were _dead_! You died before my eyes, Dad! You died and left me alone!" Dante's throat hurt from how loud he was shouting, but it didn't matter to him. He was mad and all he saw was that man in front of him that was causing all of the anger.

"Dante, maybe you should save your strength." Dante's father's voice was almost concerned as the older man looked at his son, "You'll need it."

Dante, taken aback by the sudden change in attitude, watched his father walk down the hall away from his cell. Afterwards he put his head in his hands, and wished he hadn't been such an idiot. His thoughts wandered and he began remembering things he didn't remember before.

_**Flash**_

"_Older brother!" Two brunette girls ran to him, hitting his knees and knocking him over, "You're,"_

"_Home." The twins, Opal and Pearl, often finished each other's sentences._

"_Girls, let Dante get inside before you tackle him." Mets helped the twelve year old Dante up as the eight year old girls jumped around them, "Girls, go get your books so Dante can help you with your homework."_

"_Okay Mets!" Both girls took off up the stairs in Mets's house and there were soon loud crashes as the girls struggled to free their books from their desks, "Ow! This one's yours."_

"_So Dante; how was school today?" Mets set a glass of water in front of the boy who _

"_I aced my geography test, and don't have any homework at all."_

"_Dante, we don't understand the Algebra the Mets gave us."_

"_Okay, I'll help you." The twins sat on either side of Dante and paid close attention to their homework as Dante helped them._

_**Flash**_

"_I don't wanna go to sleep, Mets, something could happen to older brother and we won't be able to see him before, before, Opal, help me out here." Pearl looked at her twin sister, then looked at Dante._

"_Pearl means before something bad happens to older brother." Opal said staring at both Dante and Pearl._

"_Opal, Pearl, I have to tell you something. You aren't like normal girls, you're AI's. Artificial Intelligences built for Project Gemini, and to be playmates fro Dante. You two will never grow up." Mets explained, moving around the room and checking things on the back of the twins' necks._

"_I won't go in there until you make a promise with us." Pearl said, looking at Dante, "Promise us that if anything at all happens to older brother, He gets married, hurt, kidnapped, dies, or becomes sick, you have to wake us up."_

"_Promise, Mets. Promise." Opal added. Dante, now almost nineteen, moved in the room and started hooking tubes to the back of Pearl's neck._

"_I promise you both, Opal and Pearl; that should anything happen to Dante, we will wake you up." Mets looked at both of them, "I swear I will, Pearl and Opal. I swear."_

_**Flash**_

Dante returned to the present when someone clanged a door across from his cell. He forced himself to his feet to see a Suit checking the cells down the hall, "Hey, hey, over here." The Suit ignored him and kept walking. Dante sat back down and put his head in his hands. Please let them still work. Please let Project Gemini still work.

Zhalia, Lok, and Sophie were back at Mets's house, trying to strategize on how to get Dante back, when Guggenheim walked in, "Mets, you remember what they said, don't you?"

"They don't' need to be woken up."

"Mets, they'll be mad when we eventually do."

"Fine." Mets sighed, and looked tired and drained like he had for the last day and a half, "Wake them up, but explain my situation before you let them up."

"Wake who up, Mets?" Sophie asked, looking at Mets with a worried expression.

"When Dante was a child, he came to me one day and asked for little sisters. Well since both of his parents were dead, I went to the Foundation and they came up with the idea for something called Project Gemini. Two girls were created, and we named them Pearl and Opal. They were Artificial Intelligences, and Dante loved taking care of them. When he grew up, we decided it would be difficult to keep them at the age they were, which was nine, so we put them in a basic state of sleep, which basically means we turned them off completely. We put their brains in larger bodies, but we didn't turn them on. Well, when we put them down, they made me promise that if anything happens to Dante, I was to turn them back on and let them help find, celebrate, heal, or help others deal with whatever happened."

"Mets!" Two girls, one with long brown hair and one with short brown hair, ran past Sophie and stopped short at the edge of Mets's bed, "Father." They looked at him and touched his hand one at a time, "Mets." The one with long hair turned to look at Sophie, Zhalia, and Lok, "What's wrong with older brother, Mets?"

"He was kidnapped, Pearl. Kidnapped by the Organization."

"Lok Lambert. Sophie Casterwill. Zhalia Moon. Hello to all three of you."

"Um, hi." Zhalia eyed one girl with apprehension.

"My name is Pearl, and this is Opal. We can hack into,"

"The Organization and find older brother." Opal said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Calm down, Opal." Guggenheim came in the room with two green duffle bags in his hands, "Pearl, Opal, you'll be going to Dante's house with Zhalia, Sophie, Lok and Cherit to discuss how you'll get Dante back."

"Okay." Pearl took both bags, tossing them over her shoulder like they weighed nothing, "Opal, calm down. I know you're excited about being alive again, but you can't be this excitable."

"Opal is a bit _un_helpful, while Pearl is a tiny bit overly helpful." Guggenheim looked at Pearl, who was trying to organize some papers on Mets's bedside table.

"We can hack the Organization and force," Opal started saying.

"Their computer system to purge itself." Pearl said when she was finally satisfied with the papers, "And we can hack the cameras and make them show Dante,"

"In his cell while we're slipping him out."

"Stop talking like that." Zhalia snapped, glaring at them.

"We always talk like," Pearl started, glaring coldly at the blue-haired woman.

"This. We grew up talking," Opal continued.

"Like this. So leave us," Pearl headed toward the door.

"Alone, Zhalia Moon." Opal followed with a colder glare than her sister's in Zhalia's direction.

Dante felt his energy dropping, and started hoping the rescue team was well on its way. A Suit had dropped off a tray of cold food for him to eat, and he had, ravenously.

"Dante Vale." The Professor stepped up to the door and looked at the Seeker, "Bring him out here." A Suit came in and dragged the Seeker from the cell. The Suit forced Dante's head back to stare at the Professor's eyes.

_**Flash**_

_Pearl and Opal were staring out the window, watching Dante leave on the bus for his first day of school for, not only a new school year, but also the first day he could brag he had two younger, well-behaved twin sisters. They disappeared after the bus door closed and he smiled as he saw the front door shake from them throwing their books at the door in a wild fit because they wanted to go to school with their older brother._

_**Flash**_

_The girls were running to a pool, happy they were finally outside for summer break, "Dante! Watch this!" Opal leapt off the edge of the pool and made it clear to the other side of the pool, then leapt backwards off the opposite edge into the water._

"_Opal! That's not funny! You know Father's rules!" Pearl shouted, then walked into the pool with Dante by her side._

_**Flash**_

_Dante was leaving on his first mission and accidentally glanced at the table. Both girls were glaring at him, "Come on, I have to go. I promise I'll play with you two when I get back. Opal, don't you dare throw, DAH!" Dante ducked a butter knife that went flipping into the kitchen sink, "Did I not just say," Dante ducked again, "Pearl, I'm warning you too, if either of you throw another dish, I will kill you both."_

_**Flash**_

_The second amulet is in a hotel near the Eiffel Tower. The code to get it is Project Gem-_

_**Flash**_

The Professor was forced out of Dante's head and threw his hand in anger. It struck Dante's face and left a red mark that would definitely turn into a bruise later. Dante spit blood on the floor, narrowly missing the Professor's shoes, and was thrown back into his cell. Dante found himself drifting to unconsciousness, and happily accepted it.

Opal swung her feet, staring at her sister, who was trying to hack into Dante's Holotome. Zhalia, Sophie, and Lok were upstairs, trying to get as much sleep in as possible before the mission. Cherit, recently recovered from the attack of the twins, was watching them sleepily, "Try 8473930." Opal suggested.

"Nope."

"Caliban?"

"Tried that already. Look at the list."

"Gemini." Cherit said as he snuggled into the pillow on Pearl's lap.

"Try it." Opal shrugged. Pearl frowned in concentration and the Holotome beeped quietly as the code registered as correct.

"Finally." Pearl breathed, "Cherit, I gotta slide you."

"Hmm?" The titan stirred slightly as he was moved off the robot's lap.

"Okay, what titans has older brother encountered?" Several titans flicked past, and both girls blinked with each new titan, registering the name and data in their memory files.

"Whoa! That is legendary. So is that one!" Opal pointed at the two legendary titans, Tao and Behemoth.

"Amazing. He's encountered two of them. That means the Professor has the third and, wait, is that the fourth titan?"

"Wow." Opal sighed.

"I'm scared. What if they've hurt older brother?"

"I, I don't know how to answer that one, Pearl." Opal whispered, "I honestly don't."

"Pearl? Opal? What are you two doing up?" Sophie came downstairs.

"We don't sleep. We have fully charged batteries, which means we won't need to charge for a few days." Pearl told Sophie, "What about you? I don't' think this is part of a good REM cycle."

"I heard you two talking and got a little worried."

"Sorry, we didn't realize," Opal let her shoulders droop a little.

"We were talking that loud." Pearl finished.

"No, it wasn't loud, I wasn't exactly asleep." Sophie sat next to Opal, "Is something wrong?"

"No. We're just trying to figure out what older brother has done since we were put to sleep." Pearl said, frowning at the Holotome, "Older brother has found so many titans." Both girls looked at the Holotome sadly.

"If they hurt him, I'll never forgive them." Opal said; a deadly tone obvious in her voice, "I'll destroy them even if they manage to destroy me."

"If anyone's going to destroy the Organization, it'll be me." Zhalia came down the stairs, with a sleepy-looking Lok in tow.

"No. We're expendable, Zhalia,"

"We don't matter." Opal finished the sentence her sister had started, "That's why we're,"

"Project Gemini. We're not human, just AI's." Pearl looked at her feet, "We want older brother to be safe, not in danger."

"All we are is circuitry, wires," Opal turned her head to look at her own feet.

"Flashing lights, fake emotions, and metal. We're of no," Pearl blinked once, her blue-green eyes looking distressed.

"Help when it comes to fighting with magic, since we have no," Opal continued, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"Spell-casting ability whatsoever." Pearl looked up at Zhalia, "We don't matter."

Dante drifted in and out of consciousness for a large amount of time. Suits came and delivered food, which he ate when he could get himself to stay awake long enough. When he wasn't eating or trying to keep himself awake, he remembered how life was without having two little girls to greet him when he came home and how unhappy he was when he was greeted by only mail after missions.

_**Flash**_

_Dante forced the door open, ignoring the squeak he knew would tell Mets he was here and went downstairs. He grabbed a folding chair from beside the door to the dark room and sat on it between the matching metal boxes, "Hey. I thought I'd come down and just sit with you two for a while. It's been one year since you were shut down, and nine years since you were made. Exactly. Thought I'd say happy birthday and let you guys know I'm still just fine and alive. I can't believe I'm doing this. You guys are shut down, and I'm still talking to you. It's like I'm talking to myself. Heck, I am talking to myself. I'm gonna go now, Pearl and Opal, I hope you guys, wait, no. You're shut down. You can't dream." Dante got up and left the room, taking the chair with him._

_**Flash**_

_Mets was sick, and Dante, now twenty-one, sat by his bed, ever vigilant. He saw the papers on the table and knew what they were. Project Gemini. The layouts for the girl's new bodies. It would never happen. Dante knew it never would, and that he'd either be dead or too sick to move, speak, or probably even recognise them. He got up and took the papers in his hands, flipping through them. Blue eyes, brown hair, they would look like him, somewhat, only a few differences. Gender, lack of facial hair, and one would have long hair. Dante found himself smiling as he looked at the pictures of the two girls, what they would look like if the new bodies were made._

_**Flash**_

_Dante glanced at Lok and Sophie, who were sparring each other. Zhalia was on her own, grocery shopping. Most likely she would return with a new shirt, or a new pair of pants. At least she didn't have his credit card this time. A plain white envelope was sitting on the counter, waiting for Dante to open it. Mets knew Dante didn't like his birthday cards hand delivered, but the mentor had one delivered every year. All this card said was Dante Vale on the outside of it, compared to a huge 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'. He finally reached for it and opened the card with a swift movement. A card with the two faces he'd seen on the paperwork a few months ago stared at him. With a swift movement, both the card and envelope disappeared into the trash._

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Enjoy – and please review!**

Zhalia got up and made her way to the cockpit of the plane they were in, "Opal, are you sure this is right?"

"Positive. Uh oh."

"What?" Zhalia looked outside the windows at nothing while Pearl's head snapped upwards.

"Better sit down and buckle up." Opal warned, stiffening slightly.

"We're about to his some turbulence." Pearl said, glancing back, "Buckle up!" Lok and Sophie immediately started tugging seatbelts over their shoulders as Zhalia threw herself in the nearest seat. Cherit grabbed the luggage rack and held on tight as the teen-robot-pilots tried to keep the plane as steady as possible.

"Left! No! Not that left, Pearl!" The plane tilted to the side and everyone found themselves either getting choked by the seatbelts or slamming into their friends.

"Sorry!" The plane straightened out, then began to shake wildly.

"Uh, what titan is big enough to grab us and shake us like a rattle?"

"I don't know." Zhalia unbuckled herself and looked out the nearest window, "Oh no. It's Battlemaster."

"Battlemaster? Sounds really dangerous." Pearl looked at the blue-haired woman, "Can you send something out to destroy it, 'cause we are going no where until he, umm, please tell me none of you are screamers."

"Why?"

"Battlemaster just let us go after he destroyed one engine."

"Um, that's not good is it?" Lok asked, looking at Sophie, who was covering her mouth in an attempt to not scream like a schoolgirl.

"No. We're locked in a death spiral. One of us has to fix it."

"I'll do it."

"Opal, be careful." Pearl said, moving over to take her sister's spot, "Zhalia, take my seat." Pearl took the wheel in her hands and tilted the wheel slightly as Opal tried to fix the engine without going outside.

"Got it!" Opal came back and Zhalia moved to let her sit down again. Sophie gasped as the plane suddenly tilted straight upwards.

"It's gonna take forever if we stop, Pearl, so don't even try."

"I know. Let's go." Pearl started flying west and grimaced as they faced storm clouds, "Um, which would you prefer, Suits or storm?"

"Storm!" Came the unanimous decision of the four people in the back of the plane.

"Stay buckled up!"

"It's gonna get really bumpy." Pearl said.

Dante looked wearily at the Professor as he came to the cell, "I'll let you tell me what the code is to get the second amulet, Dante Vale, you have exactly one minute."

"Like I would ever tell you, Simon Judeau."

"Bring him out." The Professor growled. Dante kept his head down and his eyes closed, even when the Suit forced his head back, "Look at me, Vale." Dante refused, throwing himself backwards in an attempt to get the Suit to let go of him. He found himself thrown back into the cell with twice as much force as possible.

"Oof!" Dante threw himself at the door as it closed, "Let me out!"

"Not until you give me the locations of the other amulets."

"Fine! I will! I sent them to Paris, as you already know, but they're all in different buildings in different parts of the city. One is in a hotel near the Eiffel Tower, and the other is near the Latin Quarter!"

"Thank you, Dante Vale. But we won't release you just yet. You'll be useful for another reason." The Suits and the Professor left, and Dante, feeling drained yet again, slumped onto the floor.

"Opal, Pearl." Dante whispered, "How are you two doing I wonder."

Zhalia found Cherit in her lap for the third time in five minutes, "Can you make the ride a little smoother?"

"Sorry! Cherit, you can come up here and sit with us." Opal said, "And no, Zhalia, I can't get it any smoother, I'm already trying to compensate for the turbulence we're going through. Hey, I can see the end!"

"Really?"

"Stay buckled up!" Opal shouted, "It's still, AAGH!" The plane suddenly flipped over several times as lightning struck one of the wings, "Whoa!"

"That was wicked. Let's try to not,"

"Do that again?"

"Don't do it again!" Sophie shouted, "Lok? Can you hear me? Lok?"

"Shoot. Betcha he,"

"Passed out." Zhalia said, "I hope he stays that way." She groaned, "Is that it?" She tapped her buckle and swung herself around to get into the back of the plane, "Lok?" She touched his forehead and unbuckled him, scooping him up and laying him on the floor. Sophie took Lok's head on her lap while Pearl put Lok's feet on her shoulder, "Wake up, Lok, come on, wake up."

"Huh?" Lok looked around wildly.

"Can you hear me? Blink twice if you can hear me."

"Pearl, what's going on?"

"Can you hear us?"

"Yes! Cut it out."

"Okay, sorry. You passed out."

"I what?"

"Fainted." Sophie said; her voice and face full of concern as she helped Lok to his feet.

"Has he ever done that before?"

"Not that I know of."

"Great. Let's pray that doesn't happen again."

"Yes. Let's." Zhalia whispered.

Dante woke up to a loud noise from the door of his cell, "Hurry. You won't have much time." A harsh voice echoed around the cell.

"Dad?" Dante moved stiffly.

"Shh-hh. Go. Run." The tall man shoved Dante in the direction of the end of the hall, "Go."

"But,"

"GO!" Dante ran as fast as possible down the hall and out a door, to hit a pair of Suits.

"Where are you going?" Dante, faced by the possibility of wasting his magic or letting himself get captured, chose the latter. He was shoved into his cell again and listened to them talk.

"He's always griping about how we get paid his money, and now he's letting the prisoners out."

"I don't understand why that guy is even here. The Professor doesn't pay him that much, and he says he works for some company that pays by how many of us there is, but he lies. He's just at the bottom of the totem pole."

"What do you think is for supper?"

"Something Greek. I don't know."

"Please let them hurry." Dante whispered to himself, "Please." Dante looked at the ceiling of his cell with a rare look of longing on his face.

_**Flash**_

"_Opal, calm down." Dante was sitting in a chair across a small table from Mets, watching the newly made nine-year olds jump up and down the pine tree in Mets's backyard, "Be careful both of you."_

"_What if we don't wanna?" Pearl stuck her tongue out at her older brother while she flipped herself upside down, "Whee!"_

"_Pearl!" Dante ran across the yard as she fell._

"_Heeheeheehee!" The little brunette girl giggled like mad as Dante caught her._

"_Not funny." Dante snapped._

_**Flash**_

"Not funny at all, Pearl." Dante smiled as he eventually fell asleep.

"Are you all okay?"

"Yes, Mister Louis."

"Just call me Louis, Pearl."

"I don't feel right calling you Louis." Pearl said, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Louis, a dark-haired adult Foundation helper, led the five people, one titan team across the plane tarmac while others hid the plane. In the bunker, there were curtains sectioning off small areas, "Go get changed and we'll tell you how we're going to get you in the Organization."

"'Kay." Pearl and opal ran down the hall of curtains and walked into the areas that had their names on the outside curtains. Zhalia, Sophie, and Lok went into their areas and changed. They came out to see Pearl and Opal standing in black suits like theirs and looking at a map.

"We could go in through,"

"This back door, since it,"

"Has the fewest guards,"

"And from what you've,"

"Told us, they don't use the,"

"Front entrance unless they,"

"Have important information,

"For the Professor."

"Yeah, that's what we've seen, but we don't know if there're more guards inside the doors."

"Oh well." Zhalia said, "All we need to do is get Dante."

"We can take," Opal glanced at the map and traced a line with her finger. Sophie and Lok noticed how the creek she was tracing led from the building to the tarmac.

"The guards." Pearl looked around the group.

"This creek can take us from the building back here, where we can administer medical if needed and get ourselves out of here." Louis said, touching the line Opal had traced.

"We don't have much time." Sophie said, "We should get moving."

"Yup." Pearl opened the door and led the team into the cloudy dusk. They made their way to the back door and put sunglasses on.

"Hey." Opal said, giving one guy a peace sign.

"Yo." He let them pass and they made their way through the halls and down to what seemed to be a mess hall.

"I'm hungry." Lok said, gazing at the line of Suits getting trays.

"Is that all you think about?"

"Maybe Dante would like some food."

"No. Don't talk about it." Pearl whispered, "They might hear you."

"Hey, you five." The team jumped and turned, "Get down to the holding area. You've got guard duty remember?"

"Sorry sir." Pearl said, "We were just heading down that way."

"Good. Hurry up so the others can eat."

"Yes sir." Opal said, "We're going there now sir." The girls followed Zhalia down to the cell area and walked down through the hall of cells.

"Dante Vale." Pearl whispered, glancing in one cell after another, "Dante Vale?"

"Who's there? I told you where they were! What else could you possibly want?"

"To get you out of here, older brother." Opal grabbed a door, "Older brother!"

"Opal, Pearl, why are you here?" Dante reached through the bars of his cell door and stroked their cheeks, "Who else is with you?"

"Sophie, Lok, Zhalia, and Cherit."

"I told you Mets would keep his promise."

"We knew he would." The girls gripped his hands tightly and Zhalia came down the hall.

"Hurry up. We have to get him out of here. They'll get suspicious."

"I'm too weak to walk clear to the airport." Dante said, running a hand down Zhalia's cheek.

"We can get you out of here." Pearl said, "Come on." They opened the door backwards and helped Dante by wrapping their arms around his ribs and walking him into the hall.

"We sent an Electro-Magnetic Pulse,"

"Through the camera system that,"

"Froze the screen, but kept the time,"

"Running so they can't see us." Pearl looked at Sophie and Lok, who were watching with apprehension, and jerked her head toward the door at the far end of the hall, "We need to go, now."

"Right!" Lok ran past them, trying to get to the door first and used a Touchram spell to get it open.

"Here we go. Zhalia, can you help up pick his feet up?"

"Here."

"Where do you think you girls are going with him?"

"No." Pearl looked at the Professor, "Not you. You're Simon Judeau!"

"Yes, I am, young lady." The Professor moved to block them completely from the outside door, "Look at me."

"No. Don't, Pearl, Don't look at his eyes."

"I can't help it, Dante, I, I, I,"

"Look at me, Pearl." The Professor's voice made her name sound like a horrible thing, instead of the precious gem it was, "Tell me, why are you taking Dante Vale away from me?"

"I won't tell you that."

"Tell me."

"No. Ya see, you can't control my mind, since it's all circuit boards and wires." Pear let Dante stand on his own, "We are undefeatable."

"Raypulse!" The Professor shouted, aiming his hand at Pearl. Dante screamed as Pearl dropped to the ground, a smoking hole in her shoulder, "You are electricity, Pearl, not undefeatable."

"Ah, ah, ah, ah." Pearl's voice shuddered as she blinked rapidly and tried to stand.

"Pearl!" Zhalia rushed to help the teen-robot, "Hang in there Pearl, we'll get you repaired."

"No, forget-et-et about-out me. I, I, I am expend-pend-pendable."

"No. You're not expendable. You're like a sister to me now." Zhalia looked at the Professor, "King Basilisk, get him." She summoned her titan and looked back at Pearl. Scooping the teenage-robot into her arms and running with her while Sophie, Opal and Lok helped Dante follow them.

"I have an idea." Lok said, and pulled Kipperin out of his pocket, "Kipperin, help Dante." The butterfly-like titan wrapped its arms around Dante and flew him out of the Organization headquarters. King Basilisk returned to his amulet and Pearl forced Zhalia to drop her.

"Pearl!" Zhalia went to stop, but Opal pulled the blue-haired woman away.

"We can't stop. She knows the risks, and she's giving you guys a chance to escape. Use it." Opal shoved Zhalia out a window and slammed it shut as the Professor and a pack of Suits closed in on her and her twin sister.


	5. Chapter 5

**Enjoy – and please review!**

Dante looked at the shut window as a look of pain solidified on his face. Zhalia caught him as Kipperin returned to its amulet and pulled one arm over her shoulder while she wrapped her arm around his ribs, "Easy does it." She mumbled, looking straight ahead while tears slid down her cheeks every now and then.

"They did that so we can escape, Dante." Cherit, who had watched the entire thing from outside the window, flew next to Dante and frowned, "They'll be okay."

"No, they won't. The Professor knows they can be damaged by Raypulse spells and that they matter a great deal to me." Dante looked up at the small gargoyle titan with obvious dismay, "He knows I'll do anything to get them back."

"Then we'll get them back."

"They have no use to him though. They don't know where the legendary titans are." The team made it to the tarmac and Louis looked through them all.

"Where're the twins?"

"Back at the Organization base."

"That tears it." Louis helped them into the bunker and looked at Lok and Sophie, "You two, how much spell energy do you have?"

"A lot."

"Zhalia?"

"Not that much. I summoned King Basilisk."

"Bah." Louis slapped his forehead, "James, come here."

"Yessir?"

"Treat his wounds and get him to sleep. He's going to need all the energy he can muster."

"Yessir." James pulled a huge green duffle bag out of a cabinet. He pulled medical supplies out and shone a flashlight in Dante's eyes.

"So how are we getting them back?" Sophie asked.

Opal screamed again, letting the Professor know she wasn't giving up. Pearl stared at her twin, annoyed by the nails-down-a-chalkboard screeching while she was trying to fix her shoulder, "Shoot."

"What?" Opal stopped screaming for a few seconds to look at her sister, "Still won't move?"

"Still won't heal itself. I've given it the part he destroyed, and it still isn't healing."

"Lemme see."

"As long as you stop screaming."

"Sorry. I just,"

"I don't care." Pearl said, "Just help me."

"Here, I think it's healing now. Is it?"

"No!" Pearl stared at her shoulder, "I need something to melt this stuff together. Not to mention the amount of metal I need."

"Hold on." Opal turned to the door and screamed again.

"Okay, now it's getting annoying. Stop it."

"Sorry, sis, but I want,"

"I don't care, just stop it. They'll check on us every now and then to make sure we're still alive."

"Okay, how much metal do you need?"

"How about as much, hey, we can, oh, this is great. Keep screaming."

"But you just,"

"I know, but I need you to scream and cover up the noise of me cutting these bars."

"Oh!" Opal took a deep breath, stepped away from where Pearl was working and screamed as loud as possible. Pearl started cutting the bars with her fingernails and shoved one away and began cutting another. She looked up as she heard a Suit coming. Opal screamed again as the Suit went running the opposite way. Soon the bars were all cut and Opal kept screaming, keeping any and all Suits away.

"Okay, I'm fixed and we can reach out the window and break the lock."

"Good." Opal moved to break the lock, but Pearl put a hand

"Keep screaming." Pearl warned, "They'll come down if you don't."

"Got ya, sis." Opal screamed and someone still came down. The twins looked up at Zhalia and smiled, "Hi Zhalia."

"Keep screaming. I'll get you out." Opal kept screaming and Zhalia opened the cell door.

"Run."

"Not without you." Pearl grabbed Zhalia's hand and dragged her with them. The twins slammed into the window that had just been replaced from the previous rescue mission, and broke through.

Dante stared at the door of the bunker with an empty aluminium plate sitting in front of him. Sophie and Lok had gone with Zhalia, but had returned when she had led them back to the bunker and forced them to stay. Lok swung his fist and connected with the wall and was soon waving his hand and wincing, "Why did she force us to stay here? I don't want to stay here. I wanted to help with the mission."

"I don't know, Lok. I really don't." Dante sighed, "She doesn't want you to help, don't worry about it."

"She shouldn't have tricked us like that." Sophie sat on one of the cots which were now set up for them to sleep on, "It's not fair."

"Someone's coming." Louis said, and pulled on a rain slicker. He left James, Dante, Lok, Sophie, and Cherit in the bunker and was soon helping the now exhausted twins and a weary-looking Zhalia into the bunker. The twins collapsed on two cots and Pearl raised a shaking hand to her shoulder.

"Quick-fix not good enough." She mumbled, "Can't function enough to, to, to work on it again."

"Here. We have car batteries for you two." James dragged two boxes out, "Mets called us and told us you might need them."

"Can't, can't get enough ener-energy to connect." Pearl stuttered. Opal looked at her sister and grabbed both batteries.

"Dante, help me." Opal had a tortured look on her face as she hooked the car battery to the back of Pearl's neck. She watched her sister for a few seconds before lying down on her own cot. Dante hooked the other battery to Opal's neck and both girls seemed to relax. Dante sat between them and held both girls' hands.

"They were always willing to let me go into dangerous situations alone, but would lave me there. One time we were hiking and they found an abandoned fox den. Mets told them there was a skunk in it, juts to scare them, but they wanted to see the inside, so I got down and went in with them. Mets was right. There was a skunk and it sprayed me. Neither girl got sprayed but they were forced to wash my clothes by hand when we got home. Neither of them liked it, but two months later, we were walking in the woods and they threw a Frisbee in a creek. I went down to get it and nearly got trampled by a deer."

"Little siblings are annoying." Zhalia murmured softly, looking at the twins. No one questioned her on her comment, but she did get a few strange looks from Louis, James, Sophie, and Cherit.

The professor slammed his fist into the desk and the Suits around the room flinched in unison. Grier even flinched a little as he tried to stand as tall as possible with a still smoking air vent above him that the professor had blasted with a Forceblast, "They escaped through a window half an hour ago. Why haven't you found them?"

"We have Suits and titans trying to find them, sir, but the rain is slowing their progress greatly." DeFoe said, holding his hands up in case he needed to block any spells.

"Get Klerit in here." The Professor roared and sat heavily in a chair. Several Suits scrambled to get out the door, seeming too happy to get out of the room and away from the Professor.

"I'm right here, Professor." A small black, winged titan about the size of a large house cat flew into the room and settled on the desk by the Professor's fist, "What is it you want me to do, sir?"

"Find these two." The professor handed the titan a security camera image, "And destroy them."

"Yes sir." The titan bowed its head and left the room, followed by four Suits, "Get as many titans as possible to bond with you, and meet me at the back door." Klerit said, looking t the image.

Two circles were drawn on it, emphasizing Opal and Pearl, but the assassin titan was staring at something else in the picture.

A white titan trying to hide in the shadows.

A titan that was a titan that was the exact polar opposite of the titan Klerit was.

"There you are." Klerit whispered, giving the picture an evil smile.

Dante found a pillow and blanket in his face when he woke up, but upon further investigation, found it was two pillows and one blanket on his face. He moved the pillows away and sat up, "You snore,"

"In a really loud,"

"Really annoying way that,"

"Woke us up out of a dead charging."

"Sorry." He smiled at the twins, who were staring at him with disapproving way.

"Took forever,"

"To shut you up." Pearl stood up and shook her sleeves out, "Can we go,"

"To Mets's house?"

"Yes. As soon as I get a decent meal. Just because you two don't eat, doesn't mean I can't."

"Hurry. The rain," Pearl sighed and stared out a window.

"Isn't letting up." Opal handed Dante a plate of French toast, an omelette, and hash browns.

"How's your shoulder?" Dante asked Pearl as he dug in to his breakfast.

"Fixed. James helped me." Pearl extended her arm to show Dante. Zhalia looked at the three of them and smiled.

"You three are like a real family." She looked away with a slight blush on her face as she realized she had said that out loud.

"Yeah, we are, just not a complete one." Opal grinned and pulled Zhalia to sit next to Dante, "Now, we're almost complete."

"What's for breakfast?" Sophie asked as she walked over.

"Yeah, I'm starving." Lok and Sophie joined the circle while Pearl and Opal looked at each other, smiling.

"Now we're a complete family."

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked as she accepted her plate from Pearl

"Zhalia commented on how Dante, Pearl, and I looked like a family together, and we told her we weren't a complete family." Opal said,

"We feel like you guys are family like Mets and Dante were when we were nine." Pearl continued

"When we_ looked _nine." Opal corrected her sister.

"Whatever." Pearl said, "But anyways, you guys care about Dante just as much as we do, which is good fro when Mets turns us off again. We can't stay alive all the time. We're just robotics. Not real. We can't stay alive. We'll just cause problems."

"No." Zhalia finished her meal and glared at the girls, "You won't be put away. You won't be turned off."

"There's nothing you can do, Zhalia. We're not real humans. No matter what we do we'd just get in the way. On missions, we're no good because we can't use spells, magic, or titans. The only thing we're good for is,"

"Shut up! You are good for something. You're good for being family and for rescues." Zhalia shouted as she stood up.

"No, Zhalia, we're not. The only reason we came on this mission is because we forced Dante and Mets to promise that they'd wake us up if something happened to older brother because we knew Mets would refuse to wake us up if something happened to him." Opal's voice was quiet and she and Pearl were both staring at their laps.

"When we walk into Mets's house, he's going to have us shut off." Pearl folded her hands in her lap, "We completed our mission. We have no more use."

"You two are like family to me." Zhalia walked over to the twins, "I won't let Mets put you two to sleep."

"You have no say in the matter Zhalia." Opal stared at Zhalia, "Mets won't listen."

As soon as the words left Opal's mouth, the bunker roof was ripped open.

"Hello Opal, Pearl, and Cherit." The taunting voice sent a shudder down the spines of the twin robots and made the gargoyle titan look up worriedly.

"Hello, Klerit." Cherit said coldly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Enjoy – and please review!**

"Hello Klerit." Cherit said coldly. Opal and Pearl stared, frozen in place as Dante, Lok, Sophie, and Zhalia leapt to their feet.

"Who are you?"

"What are you?"

"Why are you here, Klerit?" Cherit narrowed his eyes and glared at the grey titan above them, "I thought you were dead."

"_I thought you were dead_." Klerit mimicked Cherit, "You vanished before my eyes, Cherit."

"You disintegrated." Cherit said, "I know you did." Cherit flew up at Klerit and Klerit grinned as he flew up into the blue sky.

"Catch me if you can, Cherit." Klerit taunted, flying higher than Cherit. Pearl and Opal ran for the door, trying to see if they could escape, but were grabbed by two Suits.

"Dante!" Opal screamed.

"Zhalia!" Pearl shouted, kicking back at her attacker.

"Huh?" Both seekers turned to see the girls getting slammed into the ground by the Suits, "Let them go!" Dante ran out to save his "sisters" and found himself thrown back into the bunker by a Forceblast, "Unnh." He rolled to his feet and ran at the Suits again. This time he was repelled by multiple Forceblast spells. Zhalia ran out the door and managed to get Pearl away from her attacker as the other Suit shoved Opal into a car.

"No! Opal!" Pearl screamed, struggling against Zhalia's arms.

"No. Pearl! Don't. Calm down!" Zhalia flung Pearl to the ground, where she sat up and stared after the car that was taking Opal away.

Cherit and Klerit were now fighting, and clawing at each other, well, more like Cherit was smacking Klerit's claws away from his face, trying to protect himself while Klerit tried to get as close as possible to Cherit's face.

"Stop it! Knock it off!" Pearl shouted at them.

"Pearl, maybe we should get you on the plane and outta here, that way we aren't risking your life anymore." Louis shouted, trying to pull the robot to the plane.

"Cherit, come here." Lok shouted, "Hurry up!" Cherit tried to get away but Klerit grabbed at his wing and made him fall. Pearl ran over and grabbed Cherit up and kicked at Klerit.

"Get lost!" Pearl cried and managed to make it into the plane.

The Professor looked at the single robot girl forced into a kneeling position in front of his desk, "You only brought me one?"

"The other resisted and fought back. Plus Zhalia Moon stole her back."

"Fine. This girl will do." The Professor stared at Opal, and the Suits stared inching away from her as the Professor rose.

_Oh god. What's gonna happen to me? This is past the worst level of bad._ Opal thought to herself, _I hope Pearl's safe._

"Look at me, Opal."

"No."

"Look at me."

"No." Opal closed her eyes as her head was forced backwards by the Professor's hand.

"Opal, I promise, if you help me out, I will come and help Mets."

"I don't trust you."

"Opal, you can trust me with this." Several Suits shifted uneasily as the Professor chatted to the robot kneeling before him, "I need to know something about the legendary titans."

"I don't know anything about them." Opal stared at the Professor.

"Opal, if you tell me all that you know about them, I'll come and help Mets and I'll disband the Organization."

"No you won't."

"Yes, I will, because after I find the legendary titans, Mets and I won't be sick anymore and I'll have no need for the Organization." Every Suit in the room started staring at the Professor with disbelief.

"If I help you, will I be able to see Dante again?"

"Very soon, Opal, very soon." The Professor stood up and held out a hand, "Will you help us?" Opal bit her lip while she thought.

"Fine." Opal sighed, "I'll help you."

"Excellent." The Professor helped her stand up and a Jokul put his hand through her torso.

"No." She groaned as she fell to the floor.

"Get her re-wired to help us." One Suit said, "Sir, do you want us to change her appearance?"

"No. Keep how she looks now. If she changes, the Foundation will know she's not the same."

"Yes sir." The Suit left, following his colleagues that were carrying Opal.

Dante stared out the window of the plane as the team flew to Germany. Pearl and Sophie were finally quiet now, and everyone was happy about that. The two had fought about who would be the main pilot and who would be the co-pilot and it had resulted in almost crashing into the Atlantic. Pearl was now pilot and Sophie was dealing with being co-pilot.

"Dante, you okay?" Lok tapped his mentor on the shoulder.

"Yeah, Lok, I'm fine." Dante waved the blonde teen off and continued to stare out the window.

"Leave him be." Pearl shouted from the cockpit, "He won't forgive himself for a long time." Pearl shrugged and turned back around in her seat, "Sophie, you can take over now. I'm gonna go talk to Dante. Zhalia, you wanna be co-pilot?"

"Sure." Zhalia cast a worried glance at Dante and then sat in the co-pilot seat.

"Dante, I know you're upset about Opal, but she wouldn't,"

"How do you know Pearl?"

"Well, we are,"

"I know what you are, Pearl, but how would you know? Are you just saying this to make me feel better, or is it what you would want us to do if you were captured by the Organization instead of Opal?"

"Dante, we're exactly the,"

"No, Pearl, you're not the same." Dante turned to glare at her, "Why did Mets wake you two up anyways? You both knew he'd never keep his promise."

"Well he kept it, didn't he?" Pearl's voice was quiet, "He woke us up when something happened to you, didn't he?"

"Pearl, he's just going to have you two shut down again, so it's not worth getting comfy."

"What makes you think I'm getting comfy out here in the world? I know Mets will shut me down again. So what? I don't care. You're safe and that's all we wanted, was to have you safe. We're only wires and lights and microchips. We don't matter to anyone. All we are is a rescue team." Pearl glared at Dante. "I don't care about anything that happens to me, and Opal doesn't care what happens to her. She sacrificed herself to keep you safe, so she's happy." Pearl stared at Dante as he turned to stare out the window again, "Why can't you understand that?" She mumbled as she left her "older brother" alone.

Opal woke up in a luxuriously furnished room and looked around, trying to figure out her surroundings, "Oh, you're awake. I'll be right back." A man in a Suit ran past her and out a door, and Opal swung her feet off the edge of the bed before walking over to a huge closet. She opened it and took a spaghetti-strap tank-top, a scoop-necked long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of Capris out and went into the bathroom to change.

"Opal? Where are you?"

"In the bathroom, sir, I'll be out in a moment." She pulled her outfit on and came out brushing her hair, "Hello Professor." She smiled and bowed to him.

"Good Morning, Opal. How do you feel?"

"Perfect. Do you have anything you would like me to do today, sir?"

"Well, I did have a mission fro you, but I don't think you can handle it."

"I can handle anything you need me to do, sir! Please let me do it! I can!" Opal dropped her brush to grab the Professor's arm. Normally anyone who dared to even touch his sleeve would have been zapped away, but Opal smiled at the Professor as he pretended to ponder her request.

"I guess, but you'll have to take at least tree Suits with you."

"What? Those guys are a waste of space, time, and manpower. I can do it alone! Please let me go alone!" Opal's grin turned upside down as the Professor looked at the ceiling while pretending to, again, contemplate Opal's suggestion.

"Two Suits?" Opal shook her head rapidly as she and the Professor left her room, "One Suit?"

"Maybe." Opal frowned, "But it has to be a good one. One from a team that has done _something_ successful." Opal glared at a Suit that passed her with a tired look on his face, "Straighten up." She tightened his tie, "Just because you're tired doesn't mean you can slump your way through life." She continued her walk with the Professor, "So, what is the mission about, sir?"

"I can't tell you yet, sweetie." The Professor patted her head, like she was a cat sitting on his lap, and opened a door for her, "You need to choose a Suit first, so you two can be briefed."

"Aww." Opal pouted, "I wanna know now."

"I can't tell you, Opal. You'll have to wait. I hate doing that to you but you can't have everything you want." The Professor steered her to a computer, "Find a Suit you want to take and tell me their name."

"Fine." Opal sat at the computer and started scrolling through face after face, barely registering what they looked like, "What if I took Klerit with me? Would that be okay?"

"Klerit's a lot of responsibility, Opal."

"I know. I can handle the spoiled beast." Opal gave the Professor a glittering smile.

"Fine. You can take Klerit. Go find him." The Professor smiled back, looking like a lion staring at its prey.

The team landed in Germany and took two taxis to Mets's house, Dante and Pearl silently sitting in different cars, "Pearl, where's Opal?"

"You haven't heard? She was kidnapped. The Organization got her." Mets suddenly looked sicker than normal and Pearl looked at her feet.

"We have no hope now. If she comes back, no matter what she says, Pearl, don't believe it. Pretend to, but don't believe her. The Organization will re-wire her, and we won't be able to trust her at," Mets coughed noisily, and Lok, Sophie, and Zhalia noticed how Dante and Pearl winced with each cough, "At all." Mets finally said. Pearl left the room and came back with a glass of water, which she handed to Mets's nurse, before standing next to Lok.

"If we get her back, can someone re-wire her back to the way she was?" Lok asked, looking at Mets, Dante, and Zhalia.

"There's a possibility that someone can override the programming." Pearl said, "But there is a possibility that it'll crash both of us." Everyone looked at her and saw she was holding a think packet of papers, "It'll crash our systems past the point of recovery, and, well, you can pretty much guess the rest of the story."

"You'd die?" Lok guessed.

"Relatively." Pearl scrubbed at the floor with the tow of her boot, "We'd be irreparable." Pearl looked at the faces in the room, "Oh come on. You two knew this might happen." Pearl's soft look turned to a glare as she looked at Mets and Dante, "Either we all die, or Opal and I die. Which would you prefer?"

"Neither." Dante said, "We'll figure out how to get this all to work."

"It won't." Mets said from his bed, "There is no way to keep that from happening." He coughed, "And, Pearl I'm sorry I have to say this, but I would rather have Dante and his team alive and well, than have none of you alive."

"I know, Mets." Dante and Pearl said at the same time. Zhalia clenched her jaw and closed her eyes while Lok and Sophie stared at the floor. Cherit landed on Pearl's shoulder and rubbed her cheek.

"I'll destroy her, sir." Pearl said, a look of determination solidly set on her face.

Opal stared out the window of the plane she and Klerit were in, "I hate you." She muttered to the gargoyle titan, "And F.Y.I. you had better stay out of my way on this mission, or you'll get squashed." She finally turned to find the titan asleep in his seat, "Stupid titan. Wish you had an amulet, and then I wouldn't have to listen to that god awful noise." She covered her ears and glared at the titan as he stared snoring.

**Please review and tell me what you think. Flames may or may not backfire on you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Enjoy – and please review!**

_Italicized means it's a memory._

Klerit woke to find several tissues from a nearby Kleenex box shoved in his mouth, and glared at the robot teen across the aisle from him. She was staring out her window and, as Klerit moved slightly, he saw she looked upset.

"Klerit?" Opal's voice was soft as she called to the grey gargoyle.

"Yeth?" The titan ran a claw down his tongue to wipe off the chunks of tissue that stubbornly stuck to it.

"Do you feel we all have purposes that are different than what we want to do?"

"Quit talking like that. The Professor won't like it if you talk like that." He sat up in his seat.

"I know. But I can't help but wonder. Is this my life? I feel like I'm living someone else's life. A life someone picked out for me to live, and that they're hiding something from me." Klerit kept quiet, clenching his jaw while she talked, but when she stopped, he un-clenched his jaw, and contemplated how to respond.

"Well, there was this book I read, and it said that there was someone way up high that was everywhere and nowhere at once and that he controlled everyone's lives, even animals."

"Klerit, that's called the bible." Opal sighed, "And it's not like that. It's closer to home, like the Professor or someone." Opal looked at the grey titan, "I can't shake this feeling."

"I don't know what to tell you anymore." Klerit said, "I'm going back to sleep."

Dante walked past the dining room, glancing in at Pearl, who had taken over the room and table to spread out all of the research on her and Opal so she could try and figure out how to reprogram her sister. Zhalia looked up from the couch as Dante walked in and gave her a mug of coffee.

"Lok and Sophie are working on cleaning Lok's room. He can't find his math homework."

"I think I saw it hidden under some coffee grounds before we left on The Mission." He smiled, "They're never find it because it's long gone by now." Zhalia laughed quietly and Dante smiled. _She's sounds so cute when she laughs._ He thought. **Why can't I get up the courage to ask her out of the house for coffee?** He mentally smacked himself as time passed and a movie came on.

"Oh, I've seen this one." Zhalia picked up the remote to change the channel.

"I got it!" Pearl screamed, startling both of us.

"Okay, Pearl, calm down and don't wake the neighbors." She stopped in the kitchen, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"There_ is_ a way to save both of us!" Pearl waved a pack of papers, "Mets has backups for us, and, and if I can get to that you can, can re-download all of the data!"

"Pearl, you need to calm down. You're stammering." Dante put a hand on Pearl's shoulder.

"I'm extremely excited!" Pearl waved the papers in my face, "Read this!" I snatched the papers away from her and she continued to bounce up and down excitedly, "It's so exciting!" She flapped her hands and Zhalia grabbed them.

"Stop bouncing, and stop flapping your hands."

"Okay." Pearl, amazingly, listened to Zhalia. I scanned the papers, reading how if we get the backups ready before they were destroyed, they could be revived.

"I see. So if we get your memories downloaded, we can use that to create an artificial memory for Opal."

"Yes!" Pearl grinned, "And I can create the false memory." The phone rang as Lok and Sophie came downstairs.

"I got it!" Lok shouted, "Umm, Dante, Pearl, you guys are needed at Mets's house. Something's wrong." Lok's voice cracked as he stared at Dante and Pearl.

Opal looked at her cell phone as she rode in the back of a taxi to the house the Professor wanted her to visit. Klerit was asleep, again, but this time in his travelling bag. Opal looked up as numbers flicked past, 'one-seven-five, once-seven-seven, one-seven-nine, one-eight-one, nothing?' Opal blinked several times, staring at the phone in her hands, "Pardon me, but, did you pass the address I wanted you to go to?"

"No. It's just up ahead."

"Oh." Opal grabbed her bag and Klerit's bag, "Thank you." She handed the money for the ride from the airport to the driver before climbing out. She walked up the path to the front door of the house. She knocked and ran over what she was supposed to say to whoever answered.

"Oh, hello."

"Hello." She smiled as pleasantly as she could while still glaring at the nurse, "I'm here to see Mets."

"Mets is not feeling well at the moment; miss, could you come back later?" Opal turned on a microphone bug and let it out of her pocket. It flew in the house over the nurse's head.

"Well, I can't. I was stopping by to give my condolences and wish him luck on a recovery soon."

"Well, He doesn't want visitors right now. If you give me your name and a number I can reach you at, I'll tell him you stopped by."

"I don't know what my number is that I'll be staying at. My name's Opal, though. He should know who I am."

"Oh, I'll tell him when he's feeling better. Have a nice day." The nurse shut the door in Opal's face just as Klerit was waking up.

"Are we in yet?" He yawned.

"No, but we'll know what's going on soon enough."

"Opal was here?" Pearl looked at the nurse, "What did she look like?"

"The same as before, only she had two bags with her and I think one moved."

"Great." Pearl looked out the window, "Guys, stay quiet." She looked around the room and grabbed something in mid air, "Wow. A bug. That's real nice, Opal." She clenched her fist and let a small metal ball with wings drop onto the table.

"She's working for the Organization, then." Dante sighed, "Which won't help Mets at all." He glanced around the room, "What will we tell him?"

"It was a door-to-door salesman trying to sell us a cuckoo clock." Cherit said.

"And we said no because,"

"We don't like cuckoo clocks. At least I don't." Cherit looked at Dante, "And I know you don't."

"I don't dislike them, I hate them." Dante said, "Okay. If he asks who it was, it was a cuckoo clock salesman and we didn't want to buy any."

"I don't think that will work." Pearl said, "He can see out his window and he was awake for the visitor."

"Great." Dante groaned, "Who's going to explain it to him?"

Opal ran down the road, Klerit trying to keep up. She clutched her head and screamed as she dropped down on one knee, "What's happening to me?" The dry sobs made Klerit want to try to comfort her.

"I don't know what to do, Opal." He said, patting her back, "I don't know." Those three words dragged memories up from the depths of his mind. Memories of when he and Cherit were best friends and brothers.

***Flash***

"_Klerit, are you sure this is safe?" Cherit looked from side to side._

"_How should I know? I didn't get a look at the building plan, you did." Klerit opened a grate on the side of the train station, "Come on, it's just a little fun."_

"_But, it's day time."_

"_I said we'd wait, didn't I?"_

"_No."_

"_Oh. We're waiting until it gets dark. The porter's a new kid. Not even a Seeker." Klerit smiled, "SO we're gonna have some fun with the new kid. The old porter knows we're gonna do this, so we're good." Klerit looked at his brother, "Come on, Cherit, it's just a practical joke."_

"_Klerit, we shouldn't do this."_

"_Fine. You can go sit on the roof. I'll scare the new kid." Cherit left the building and sat on the roof, waiting for Klerit to follow him. Klerit sat behind the air grate for a short while longer before leaving and sitting next to his brother._

"_You can't do it alone, can you?" Cherit teased._

"_It's not that, it the fact that it's no fun without you."_

"_I don't know; you had a lot of fun doing this without me last time."_

"_Oh quit." Klerit scoffed to his brother, "You're just jealous."_

"_No I'm not."_

"_Are to!"_

"_Am not. Uh oh, people coming."_

***Flash***

Klerit looked up and got Opal on her feet. She stumbled into the trees and dropped behind a large shrub, "We're going to the movies, right?" A girl was walking by with her cell phone pressed to her ear, "Well, if you can't come and pick me up, how am I supposed to get to the theatre? I can't drive yet." The girl passed by after her little dog tried to pee on Klerit, who snapped at it, and the robot-teen and gargoyle titan came out.

"I need to find my sister. And Dante! I have to find Dante too!"

"Opal, we need to go back to the professor." Klerit said, grabbing her wrist, "let's go."

"The professor's evil. Why would I want to go back to him?" Opal said, looking at Klerit with wide eyes, "You work for him! You're a member of the Organization!"

"No! I, I," Klerit perched on her shoulder, "I don't understand. I don't want to work for him, but I did."

"Say 'I quit.' Just say that." Opal said, "Say 'I quit.'"

"I quit." Klerit clutched his head as the hypnosis the professor had put on him broke, "Opal, we're free." He gasped, then smiled from pure joy, "We're free."

"Let's go." Opal carried the grey gargoyle titan to Mets's house.

"Cherit!" Klerit shouted, "Cherit!" Klerit flew around the house several times, "Brother!" Klerit sat down on the stoop, "Opal, try calling your sister."

"Pearl, I need to talk to you! Dante and his team too!" Opal shouted, "Please! I now we were under the control of the professor and you think you can't trust us, but we know we were under mind-control of Araknos." Opal stared at the door, "Please, Dante, trust us!" Opal sat on the stoop, "Please, I'll do anything to prove it to you." She put her elbows on her knees and closed her eyes.

Dante, Cherit, Lok, Sophie, Zhalia, and Pearl listened to Opal and Klerit outside shouting, "Please, I'll do anything to prove it to you." Opal said. Pearl clenched her fist, "She's telling the truth."

"How can you tell?"

"She doesn't sound like she did last time. She sounds like herself."

"So? Maybe she figured out you can tell the difference between voices." Dante said, "We can't trust her, Pearl."

"No. She's telling the truth. Both of them are. Cherit, he called you brother." Pearl said, staring the little white titan down, "Maybe we should give them a chance." Pearl looked around the room, "Should we?"

"No." Sophie stood up, "They work for the professor now. They aren't who we used to know."

"I think we should." Lok said, moving to sit next to Pearl, "I agree with Pearl." The phone on the wall in the sitting room rang loudly, making everyone jump.

"Hello?" Dante answered it quickly, "Hey! I didn't know you were coming home." He listened to the voice on the other end of the line, "Yes, we'll leave soon. Yes you can go in the house. No you can't." He listened some more, "We don't have a big enough house for, really? I don't believe you. Allegro, just wait until we get home. Yes we're going to be there soon. Yes you can have some of the coffee. No, Allegro, just leave the mail alone. Yes on the table is fine." Dante sighed, "Okay, you're running Mets's phone bill up high enough. I'll see you soon. Bye." He hung up as the voice started protesting, "Allegro's home, as if you couldn't tell."

"Who's Allegro?"

"Another little sister of mine, besides you and Opal." Dante said to Pearl, "I'm siding with Pearl on this one, we'll have to trust them, but if they show one sign of still being controlled by the professor, we'll have to take them both out."

"I understand. Now let's go. I wanna meet this Allegro person." Pearl ran for the door, opened it and was tackled by Opal.

"I'm so sorry!" Opal shouted, "I'm so sorry"!

"Okay!" Pearl fought to get Opal off of her, "Okay, I understand, you're sorry!" Pearl finally got her sister off of her and looked up at Dante, "Are we still going?"

"Yes. Cherit, Klerit, stop dancing." Dante sighed, "Will this madness ever stop?" He sighed to himself, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Opal asked, pulling the two gargoyles apart. One flew to Dante's shoulder while the other perched on her shoulder.

"To Dante's house."

"Why?"

"Cause my other little sister is home now and I need to have a talk with her." Dante shook his head, "Come on." He led them out of the house, "Tell Mets it's Allegra." Dante shouted at the nurse as she waved. He shoved them into an SUV.

"So, we're going to meet your little sister? She's human, right? Not another robot?"

"I'll have to explain that during the plane ride." I laughed, "Along with what she's lived through."

End of chapter seven.

To DarkFoxTails: I'm sorry about the long wait. My computers been crashing and I almost lost everything. We're hopefully getting it fixed soon. If not, updates will be slow. Please be patient.


	8. Chapter 8

**Enjoy – and please review!**

_Italicized means it's a memory/thought._

The Professor looked at the Suits trying to stand as straight as possible in front of him, "What do you mean, 'lost them'? How can you lose a robot and a flying titan?" He screamed, slamming his fist into the desk, "It can't be that hard!"

"Well, sir, they've, uhh, just vanished off our map. We can't locate them anywhere."

"And you're still standing here trying to tell me you can't find them? Find them!" The professor screamed. The six Suits clamoured to get out of the office, tripping over each other. A man wearing a black trench-coat walked down the hallway, ignoring the running Suits even though they crashed into him occasionally in their hasty retreat. He walked into the Professor's office.

"What do you want me to do for you sir?" He asked, saluting slightly.

"If I wanted you to go anywhere, I'd have told you. You're a waste of space. I should have you destroyed."

"If you do that sir, you'll never get Dante or Allegra Vale." The man smiled, knowing that even though he could be a waste of space, his children were the only way to keep himself alive.

"I know that." The Professor snapped, "Now, I want you to go to Dante Vale's house. Make them believe you're good."

"Yes sir." The man bowed, wishing he didn't have to be the cause of the downfall of his children.

Dante opened the front door of his house and found his sister asleep on the couch in front of the TV. He turned the TV off and pulled a thin blanket over her sleeping form, "Don't bother her." He warned Pearl and Opal as he went upstairs, "And explain who you are before she turns into a wolf."

"Okay." They whispered. Cherit and Klerit went into the kitchen to talk and Pearl and Opal sat in chairs.

"Opal, are you positive you're not being controlled by the Professor?"

"Positive, Pearl."

"I'm just checking." Pearl looked at Dante's wall of books and got up to get one.

"This one is by a lady with the same last name as Dante."

"Yeah. She was my mom." Both robots jumped as Allegra sat up on the couch, "Who are you?" The girl was perfectly calm, which the twins did not expect, since Dante had made it sound as if she was dangerous.

"Dante said you'd freak,"

"If you saw us."

"Well, you haven't attacked me, slammed my face into the floor, or spit in my face, so I think you can be trusted." Allegro smiled, "And you aren't planning on spitting in my face, slamming my head into the floor, or attacking me, are you?"

"Dante said you were a werewolf."

"Well, I ain't a child of the night, but I am darn near. I'm most powerful at night, howl at a full moon only because it's cooler than a blue cow to hear people complain, and chase vampires for the hell of it."

"You speak perfect Italian,"

"But you have an American accent."

"I spent the last eleven months on a trade-off. I finished my mission and came home. The American seeker still has no idea what he's chasing after. I figured I might as well, just lounge around here and there, avoid Mets and Guggenheim as long as possible because if they catch me, I'd have to help the dumb American." Allegro smiled and shook her head, "So, I still haven't caught your names. I assume you're not normal, since you both look like a mirror is next to one of you, yet there is no glass edge between you two, there is no scent coming off of you that is remotely human. I assume you are either robots or titans that can throw glamour." She looked at Pearl and Opal with a curious look.

"Well, your deductive skills have gotten better." All three girls winced, Allegro practically curling in a ball, and turned to look at the blond and brunette men behind them.

"Hi Guggenheim. Hello, Mets," Allegro muttered, uncurling and grinning sheepishly, "Um, I finished early."

"I can see." Guggenheim said.

"And I finished a report already and set it in the draft section of my holotome."

"Good. Can I see it?" Mets said, sitting in a chair.

"My holotome is upstairs." Allegro pointed toward the stairs.

"Take me to it." Mets stood up.

"How about I go get it? I can move a lot quieter than you two." She stood up and ran upstairs. A few seconds later, she came back down and handed her holotome to Mets.

"Ah. Very good." Mets continued to make satisfactory noises as he read the report. Dante and Zhalia came down, their arms wrapped around each other.

"I don't wanna know what happened." Allegro said, going into the kitchen. She came back five minutes later with a tray of coffees. She passed them around and sat next to Opal and looked at Mets, "Well, sir?"

"Very good. And you met up with those seekers from your trip with Adges?" Mets asked.

"One of them." Allegro shrugged, "And I don't wanna talk about Adges." She looked at her feet, "Okay?"

"Okay." Dante said, kissing Zhalia on the cheek.

"I _really _don't want to know." Allegro snorted into her coffee, "And don't ask about the pack."

"How's Vivace?"

"Vivace? She's fine. So's Nicneven. She wants to go see Reggie in prison, so I'm gonna go with her this weekend and see him."

"Really?" Dante asked, arching his eyebrows.

"He' gonna be in cuffs and an orange jumpsuit. How could I possibly pass up a chance to point and laugh at the moron?"

"Allegro," Mets said, frowning at her.

"What? He is!"

"Allegro, he was your brother in law."

"Not really. You're my half brother, and Viv is your half sister. Her mother is your mother, but her father isn't your father. Your father is my father, but your mother is not my mother."

"Oh." Dante frowned, "Allegro, can I talk to you privately in the kitchen?"

"Sure." Allegro stood up and followed Dante into the kitchen.

The airport was bustling with both vacationers and men and women on business trips, but one man didn't seem to fit into either category as he marched across the terminal with only his carry-on tossed over his shoulder. He wore black from his head to his feet, starting with a fedora, and going to a leather trench-coat, black pants, and finally, military boots. He marched across the terminal and down the sidewalk.

_Now he expects me to kill them. Not just attack and take their titans, but actually kill my children._ He thought as he walked. A pair of girls went running past, giggling like crazy.

"Allegro said she wanted us at her house in fifteen minutes. We're so late!" One girl said before bursting into uncontrollable cackling.

"Excuse me, but did you say Allegro?"

"Uh, no, we said Filigree. It's her dog's name."

"You said her dog said to be home in fifteen minutes."

"her dog can type on a computer. Very tricky to teach. Although she typed fguidfrterwebn nmoibnyutyweas."

"Yeah, Haven't taught her how to hit one key at a time."

"Really? Girls, I know you're lying. I know what I heard, and I want you to take me to where Allegro Vale is living."

"And if we refuse?"

"I'll find her on my own and kill her after killing both of you." The man's hands glowed faintly grey, "Now, do you girls want to listen to me or will you fight back?"

"Well, let's see, I ain't leading you anywhere, creep."

"Same here!" The two girls took defensive positions on either side of the man.

"Eve, call." The tanned girl said, "I'm gonna use Nimblefire, Touchram, and Brisinger."

"You think you can use the attack I taught my daughter against me?" The man snapped his fingers, twin fireballs forming on his hands.

"Uh oh." Eve said.

"Uh-oh _what_?" Cassie snapped.

"Allegro's not answering." Eve looked at Cassie.

"Yeah, that's an uh-oh." Cassie said, and threw herself to the side of the street.

**End of chapter eight. Finally. I'm sorry it's shorter than the others, but I thought that was a good place to end it.**

**Sorry it took so long. I've had writer's block and been writing and re-writing papers for school, so I haven't had a ton of time.**

**I'll be better on updates after this hopefully, GDW.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Enjoy – and please review!**

_Italicized means it's a memory/thought._

Cassie dove behind a bench, "Try again, Eve!" She hissed at the cyborg, "Hurry up! Allegro's Holotome, Dante's holotome, anything!"

"I'm trying!" Eve scrunched her face up, "I think I'm getting a signal from Met's cell. I'll send him an S.O.S."

"Hurry up! My power's half gone." Cassie ran back out to the fight with the man, "Brisinger!" A purple fireball hissed as Cassie threw herself across the street.

"I made that spell. Allegro learned it from a book her mother wrote." The man dodged the spell easily and threw his own black flame at Cassie before turning in the direction of Dante's house, "I wonder if she still remembers me."

"Oh no you don't!" Cassie flung herself at his legs, "Nobody gets near Allegro!"

"You pitiful little girl."

"It's through!" Eve shouted, standing up, "I got through!"

"You warned them?" The man turned a glowering eye on Eve.

"Yes. My boss has a right to know when someone is looking for her."

"You little brat." The man turned and stormed in the direction of the house, only to be thrown backwards by Caliban.

"Well, I guess I got the message to them the first time I sent it." Eve grinned, then shrieked and ducked a Brisinger spell.

"Good job, Eve!" Cassie shouted. Allegro, in her wolf form, leapt over Caliban and pulled her lips from her teeth in a snarl.

"My daughter is just like her mother; untrusting of her father." The man said staring at Allegro with distaste.

"You can't scare me, whoever you are." Allegro growled, "I am an Alpha." Another wolf joined her, slightly smaller than her, and as black as pitch.

"Allegro, Zane, don't attack him." Mets stepped up next to the wolf, "Stop it. Calm down." Her hackles went down and she whimpered, looking at the beloved Huntik director and back at the man in the road.

Allegro's cell phone went off, startling all of the people in the room. Zane grabbed it from her, "Its Eve."

"Oh my god. Some suit just attacked her outside." Allegro said, and bolted from the house. Zane followed, shouting something no one could understand. Dante shoved his arms into a coat and followed them as fast as he could, Zhalia hot on his heels.

"Caliban!" Dante shouted. Allegro shifted forms in the middle of the street, but Caliban beat her to the fight. He slammed someone backwards and Dante saw a brief glimpse of the man's face.

"Dad?" He whispered. Zane snarled and lunged forward. Allegro gave a sharp bark and he pulled back sharply.

"But,"

"No!" She barked. He slunk back to her side, nuzzling her cheek. She licked his muzzle and butted her head against his.

"Well, how have you fared with gathering information, Steven?" Mets asked, approaching the man with a warm smile and a friendly handshake.

"Quite well, Mets." The man straightened up, "Dante, Allegro, can I get a hug from my only kids?"

"Dad." Dante said, and walked forward to hug the man. Allegro shifted forms and Zane snarled as she walked away from him. Allegro turned, giving him a cold glare, and he slunk backwards to hide behind Cassie.

"Daddy?" Allegro turned back to the man, and then flung herself into his arms, "Daddy!" The man swung her around, smiling.

"I'm sorry about everything, Lego."

"It's okay Daddy." Allegro hid her face in his shoulder, trying to hide the fact she was crying, and Steven pulled his son into another hug. Dante patted Allegro's back and she started visibly shaking as she cried.

"We'll be waiting at your house, Dante." Cassie and Eve took off, Eve dragging Zane by a jacket tied around his neck.

"Daddy." Allegro mumbled into his collar. Suddenly she went limp.

"She fell asleep." Steve grunted.

"She didn't sleep well on the mission."

"That would explain it." Zane walked over, "'ll take her."

"No. I can carry her. Can you swing her legs up over my other arm?"

"Here you go sir." Zane lifted his girlfriend's legs over her father's arm and walked behind the group.

"Ah, hello my little gargoyle friend. How is the deceit going?" A man speaks in a low voice, as if trying to keep someone from hearing his conversation.

"Very well sir." A high-pitched female voice spoke with a Scottish accent.

"You broke the Organization spell on your brother I take it?" The man has a British accent and he sounded very confident.

"Yes." The female voice said, "When do you want me to reveal myself, sir?"

"Not yet, darling. Not yet. We still have one more card to play before you come into play, my little queen of clubs."

"I understand, sir." The man lays down a card in front of him. A queen of hearts. An ace of spades, two of spades, and three of spades sits next to it, "Sir, may I ask who this card is?"

"The queen of Hearts."

"Off with their heads as she says." The female voice laughs.

End of chapter nine!

Sorry the story went comatose for a while. I ended school, got a job, and started school again. But I finally found enough time to get it done.


	10. Chapter 10

Hi y'all! I'm not dead yet! Just out with a cold and college…and injured parents…

Have a happy Thanksgiving, if you're in America, if not, have a happy day, week, month, year, etc…  
Hopefully I'll see you around Christmas!

Don't forget to please Read and Review!

Dante's PoV

Allegro slept until four that night, and when she woke up, she grabbed my sleeve, since Dad had sat her next to me on the couch.

"Daddy?"

"Over there." I pointed at him across the room.

Opal shook her head, and we all stared at her. Opal hadn't relaxed the whole time Dad had been in the house, and Pearl was trying to get her to relax.

"Sis, come on. Relax."

"Not good. Not good." Opal said, "He's not good."

"I'm gonna take her upstairs. She's having a little problem." Pearl dragged Opal upstairs.

"How has my daughter been?"

"Just fine without you." Allegro said, standing up, "You are _not_ our father." She tilted her head to the side, "You don't smell right, you don't sound right, and you don't look right." She cast a glance at me, "How could you be fooled by this act?"

"By what? Allegro, I think you need to go upstairs, take a shower, get yourself," She reached out and slapped me as I spoke.

"You can't smell that?" She asked "You can't smell the death and disease that is saturating this room right now?"

"Allegro," I stood up, feeling light-headed, "You need to,"

"Dante, what did you eat this morning?"

"I ate," I frowned, the memory was slightly fuzzy, "toast, cereal, and had a cup of tea."

"What did you eat for lunch?"

"I," This memory was even fuzzier, "A…sandwich?"

"What time did Eve call me?"

"She called? I don't remember. Why does it matter?"

"Do you feel kind of sick, kind of dizzy?" Allegro grabbed my shirt front, yanking me down to her level. She stared at my face hard for a second, before baring her teeth and releasing me.

"kind of. Why?"

"It's a spell. Designed to confuse and block off memories surrounding your meeting with this person." Allegro back-handed him again, "Now, we need to get him out of here."

"If there is a spell, how come you're not affected by it?"

"Because I recognized it and cast a second spell to block his spell." Allegro said, "That's why I fell asleep. The spell knocks you out for a little while."

"Uppity little brat." The man stood up, "Yes, I'm not your father. But I know what happened to him."

"He was shot." Allegro said, "I saw the body myself."

"The shot is not what killed him."

"Then explain to me how he died." Allegro snarled, "Because I saw him die. I saw him get shot and he died holding my hand." Allegro's arms were shaking, "Who are you?"

"You saw him die?"

"Would a wolf lie?" Allegro snarled. I knew right then that something really was wrong.

"Allegro,"

"Shatterspell!" Allegro slapped the man who looked like our father. In an instant his disguise broke apart, and my mind was clear again.

"What was that?"

"_Mindblur_. New spell designed to copy Friendface and to dull the mind of anyone that comes in contact with him." Allegro stood in front of him, her arms folded across her chest, "Now, how the hell did you learn that spell?"

"Taught to me by the Professor before he left." The man smiled, "But I am not your enemy, Soluna-Allegra."

"How do you know that name?"

"Because I knew your mother. And Adges."

"Adges." Allegro got quiet. I could see the hurt in her face as I put a hand to her shoulders.

"And I know where your father is, Dante and Allegro Vale."

"Queen of Hearts'" PoV

_I hate this muck. I hate this mire. I hate these situations dire._

_**Damn**__**it**__! I'm starting to sound like that damned rhyming Club._

I looked up at the sewer cap above me, praying that was the right one. I climbed up the rusty ladder and lifted the cap a little. I was in the right spot. Thank god.

"Queen, come in."

"What?" I snapped. These people were so irritating.

"Location check."

"Like you need to know, you clumsy Spade!" I shouted into my mike before climbing from the sewer. I stretched and walked down the street, humming. People smiled at me and I smiled back, glancing at address numbers and street names.

"Can I help you?" A brunette girl asked me.

"Yes, I'm, um, trying to find my friend. Her name is Cassie?"

"I know a few girls names Cassie. What's your friend's last name?"

"Uh, last time I knew it was Reynolds, but she may have changed it in the four years since I last saw her."

"I don't know anyone by that name. Sorry." The young lady left me in the street. Frankly, I was appalled. She seemed familiar. I paused and turned toward the waterway, pretending to ponder the flow of the water instead of the girl. _What had made her familiar to me?_

_Her eyes_. _Those were the same eyes as that boy that defeated me in London. She's some relation to __**him**__. A close relation. Very close_. I frowned in thought, and it struck me.

_She's a Casterwill_. _She's a descendant of the one who betrayed my family. Who left my family to die! _I turned and searched for the girl._ Where __**was**__ she?_ She had just left me, not even a minute and a half ago. I stomped down the sidewalk, my eyes searching for her. Looking for any glimpse of that ragged outfit that suited her so well. _How __**fitting**__ that a __**ragged**__ family would produce a __**ragged**__ child. But her brother had been so, so __**clean**__. Could this ragged girl __**really**__ be __**his**__ sister? That __**boy**__ was __**unquestionably**__ a Casterwill, his actions and his __**'I'm better than you'**__ attitude. This girl couldn't __**possibly**__ be a Casterwill._ I ducked into an alley and summoned my Gareon. He was my only power-bonded titan, and amazing at security details, "There's a Casterwill a few blocks from here." I brought up a mental image of her face, "Find her and follow her. I need information on where she lives." I touched Gareon's face and he nodded once before taking off.

_Now, a waiting game began._

_I __**hate**__ waiting._

Sorry this chap is so short. Next one will be longer, I promise!

R&R please!

GracefulDancingWolf.


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